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Wednesday, 5 September 2012

Automobili Lamborghini SpA. was officially founded in 1963. That same
year, the very first Lamborghini, the 350GT, made its debut at the
Turin Motor Show. The car’s name came from its engine size, a 3.5-liter
four-cam V12. Then came the 400GT, which was produced until 1968. But it
was the stunning midengine Miura, produced from 1966-’73, that
catapulted Lamborghini to worldwide acclaim.
Lamborghini’s tractor business suffered hard times in the early ’70s,
which led him to sell a controlling interest of Automobili Lamborghini
SpA to a Swiss industrialist. The Italian’s problems were worsened by
that decade’s oil crisis, and he wound up selling the remaining amount
of his shares. The company invested millions in the development of a new
vehicle, the military truck-style Cheetah, but its sales were
disappointing. By the end of the decade, the automaker had declared
bankruptcy.
The company got back on its feet in the 1980s. The key was
Lamborghini’s over-the-top Countach. Though introduced way back in 1974,
the Countach, now fully styled with angles and vents, was the perfect
exotic sports car for that’s decade’s mentality. Perhaps hoping to cash
in on the firm’s revived popularity, the company’s managers sold
Lamborghini to Chrysler in 1987.
Another change of ownership took place in 1994, when Lamborghini was
acquired by three Far Eastern companies. Megatech was the largest of the
trio and the primary shareholder. By the late 1990s, Lamborghini was in
financial hot water once again. As before, the lack of a diversified
product lineup was hurting the company’s ability to compete globally. It
was acquired by Volkswagen (which also owns other luxury marques such
as Audi and Bentley) in 1998.